The Junior League: The League Forms
by Vivek Reddy
Summary: Read how Batman and Superman establish a league of five young people with superpowers to save the world from harm!
1. The New Beginning

Chapter 1: The New Beginning

It was a subterranean location. A series of caves were present with frequent places offering space for waterfalls. It was dark and an aquatic area with several places of land. It was the Batcave.

The Batcave, a secret headquarters under the Wayne Manor, was a secret location, which Gotham City's hero, Batman, would use for upgrading his vehicles, deciding on his plans and many other activities. It was midnight, and the lift of Wayne Manor was used to come down to visit the Batcave. Tim Drake had visited The Batcave.

With two cups of tea in his hand, he started walking towards the cave's centrepiece, where there was a supercomputer. Before it was a man wearing black suit, and black trousers. It was Bruce Wayne, the multimillionaire.

"Here's your tea, Bruce" said Tim, offering one of the tea cups to Wayne.

"Thanks, mate" said Bruce, taking the tea.

"So, what's next?" asked Tim. "I mean, any other crimes seen?"

"Yeah, I saw three robbers robbing a bank, and I went after them and caught them and Commissioner Gordon had them in jail" explained Bruce.

"What? You fought crime without me?" asked Robin, shocked. "We are a team, aren't we? Whatever we do, we have to do together"

"I won't from now" said Bruce. "Even you won't"

Drake looked shocked. "What happened? Are going out of Gotham?"

"We are getting older day by day. We cannot save the entire world alone"

"Now what? Now, are you going to add members?" asked Drake.

"No, but I have decided that we organise a new group, like the Justice League, to save minor and localised resources. We can solve the most dangerous and threatening ones" explained Bruce.

"What does 'we' mean? Does that mean that all of the Justice League members have accepted this?" asked Drake.

"No, but I'm sure that Superman would be understanding it" thought Bruce.

The Daily Planet opened. Reporter Clark Kent was ready for the news bulletin. After a long thirty-minute news reading, he took a break from his news, and sat in a chair, and just relaxed. Just then, his phone rang.

"Hey, Kent, are you free this evening?" came Bruce's voice through the phone.

"Yep, why so?" asked Kent.

"No, just want you to meet me today evening. An important one"

"Sure"

As planned, Clark Kent wore his suit – a blue one with a red cape attached, with an 'S' symbol in the centre. He set off to meet his mate. He flew out of the window, with both his hands placed forward. In twenty minutes, he reached Wayne Manor. He was welcomed by Alfred Pennyworth, Bruce Wayne's family butler.

"Welcome, sir. Master Wayne is waiting for you downstairs" Alfred gave a pleasant welcoming.

He guided Superman into the lift which led to The Batcave, and in seconds, Superman was in The Batcave. He walked forward to Bruce Wayne, who was also dressed in his superhero form, Batman, who wore a black suit with a black cape, and wore a black helmet (mask).

"So, what's that you wanted to… umm… confess?" asked Superman.

"Well, I wanted to quit majority of my time in saving the world, as I have much business work to do" said Batman.

"So, you wanted to quit fighting crime?" asked Superman.

"No, all of us, you, me, Prince, Curry, Allen, we are getting older and it's time for us to spend more time in our personal lives" said Batman, hoping to get a positive reply from Superman.

"So, you want us to stop fighting criminals?" asked Superman.

"No, not like that, but stop fighting even smaller cases. We can give opportunities to the young ones also" explained Batman

"You want to say that we must encourage people in doing things like this?"

"Whatever you think"

"Fine, what must be do? Pick some random large and huge-looking wrestlers and make a team through them?" asked Superman.

"No, just like Barry was struck by the lightning, and gained superhuman speed, Stone was recreated by his dad and gained biomechatronic powers. There may be some other people like these who may be wanting to fight crime"

"Well, I've gained interest now. So, how about we conduct auditions?" proposed Superman.

"Yeah, in this same place" said Batman.

Superman, though not having an excellent impression on the Batcave, disapprovingly agreed.

Alfred was told to announce that auditions for superheroes would be held at Wayne Manor, and he did so. The next evening, many people were seated in Wayne Manor for wanting to be selected to save the world. Nearly fifty people were seated, many did not come as they did not want to risk their lives in this battle.

One by one, everyone was allowed in the Batcave, guided by Alfred, and showed their talents. Batman and Superman were wanting to select the best from all, so they applied their complete concentration. Nearly ten people had been rejected, some of whom had been wrestlers and lacked intelligence, and some of them came with machine guns, claiming they were experts.

Then came the eleventh one. He wore a brown tee-shirt, and over it was a warm fur coat. He was looking quite handsome, for the judges.

"What's your name, buddy?" asked Batman.

"Hal Jordan, sir" he replied.

"What are your powers?" asked Superman.

"Well, I can manipulate anything green in thin air and use it to fight m opponents" Jordan replied.

"Is it?" asked Superman, with a glance at Batman. "Can you show it?"

Jordan nodded. He placed his hands vertically opposite to each other and created a green ball of energy. It was spinning and spinning, until it grew into a large car. Jordan sat in it and even showed that he could drive it.

"Well, how did you get those, though?" asked Batman.

"Well, I'm a cocky test pilot working at Ferris Aircraft, and one day a 'power ring' chose me and attracted me towards it and with this power ring," he pointed to the ring he had worn around his left wrist, "I can manipulate anything in air, or turn green-coloured objects into anything I wish"

Batman was impressed. He immediately selected him, and Jordan was happy to be so. He was asked to wait in a room, to which he was guided by Alfred, and waited there.

"Well, here goes the first one" said Superman.

The next one came in.

"Who are you?" asked Superman.

"I'm Carter Hall, and I can fly" he said, and immediately two black-coloured hawk wings emerged from his back. He flew for a distance.

"Well, is that all you can do?" asked Batman.

"Not entirely, sir" Hall said. "I even have a set of weapons, which include a mace, spear, sword and everything"

"He's just ordinary" Batman whispered into Superman's ear.

"Well, what else can _you _do, Bruce?" asked Superman, who developed a liking on Hall. Batman sat quiet at this. Superman selected Hall, and he was guided into the same room that Jordan as guided into.

The next one to come was Oliver Queen.

"Well, Queen explain yourself" said Batman.

"I was lost in a shipwreck and spent five years on a mysterious island, where I learnt the art of archery, and acrobatics, and learnt that human strength consisted of some traditional technique" Queen explained.

"Oh, you are an archer expert? Can you shoot a bat in this cave?" Batman asked.

It was all dark there, and so were the bats. Queen closed his eyes and concentrated. He kept his ears open. After a while, he took one of his bows and shot it with his arrow. It shot the bat to the judges' left. Batman was amazed by his concentration skills, and praised him, and he was selected.

The waiting room's next visitor was Queen.

The next one to come was a woman, the first one to come.

"What do you do?" asked Superman.

"My name is Dinah Lance, sir, and I can emit supersonic rays from my mouth, and I can even detect voices below the infrasonic range" said she.

She then took a glass bowl from her pocket and kept her mouth open towards it. Rings of echoes were appearing, and sound could be heard, and in a few seconds, the glass broke.

Both the judges liked her skill and selected her. Alfred guided her to the waiting room.

"Well, now we have to select the last one" said Superman.

"Are you kidding? There must be at least seven to eight members in a team. The strength depends"

"No, you're wrong. Excess of members in a team even leads to non-cooperation and fight. Five members is enough for them" explained Superman.

Batman nodded.

Next came a person with a laboratory suit. He was Dr. John Thompson.

"Well, what have scientists got to do here?" Batman asked.

"I _was _a scientist sir" replied Thompson. "I've been expelled from my lab for causing an electric circuit, which damaged my lab and took away the lives of my colleagues"

"Fine, what can you do?" asked Superman.

"As I told you sir, the accident in the lab gave me electric powers. I can release strong, electrical charges from my body, and I can even absorb electricity from an electrical object. Not only this, I can even change the charges contained within a body" he said.

Ultimately, he was selected. Thompson was also guided to the waiting room, and Alfred was told to ask the guests to leave. He did so.

"Well, that was cool" said Superman, stretching his hands.

"Now, we have to visit the heroes" said Batman.

Batman and Superman went back up to the Wayne Manor, and went to the waiting room. Thompson, Hall, Lance, Jordan and Queen, all were seated there, busy on their cell phones.

"Excuse me, can I have your attention?" announced Superman.

Everyone turned their phones off and looked at Superman.

"You all have been selected to save the world, and now you have to apply your team work and cooperation together know each other's weaknesses and adjust accordingly" said Superman.

"And not just that, you must become something else in order to fight crimes" said Batman. "Like, you have to prepare your costumes, and carry necessary equipment, and change yourselves"

The five people were looking interested.

"Well, we have decided that you take a home at River City and fight crime there" said Superman.

Jordan and Thompson looked a bit dull.

"And from today, you are The Junior League" said Batman.


	2. River City

Chapter 2: River City

The next morning, all five members of the Junior League – Hall, Thompson, Jordan, Lance and Queen – gathered in Gotham and took a cab to River City and began searching for an ideal home. Their home, had to be big enough for five people, and had to have an underground secret place for their operations.

Thompson received a call from Batman.

"Don't worry, we've found a house for you" said Batman, and addressed them to the desired location.

It was a large bungalow, with red bricks as the roof. It contained a wide garden, with a huge fountain in the centre, and had beautiful flowers and plants, which ranged from coffee bushes to jasmine plants. The grass was short and was comfortable to walk on. All the five people liked it. As they reached the doorstep, there was an envelope over there.

Hall picked up the envelope and opened it, in which was a message which read 'Don't forget the keys to your home-sweet-home'. He even found keys inside and took it in his hands and opened the door. The house was grand inside also. Brown flooring and white ceiling was a good combination. Five royal bedrooms, a huge dining table, a kitchen with all facilities and a sofa-set in front of a large television.

They all went to their respective bedrooms, and freshened up, and dressed themselves. They met in the drawing room and began to adore the lifestyle. Suddenly, Oliver spoke up.

"Hey guys, we are having a royal retreat, yes, but, first of all, we have to prepare our costumes and equipment. Shall we consult a tailor or do it by ourselves"

"Not a tailor" said Hal. "As Batman said, as long as possible, we should not reveal our identities to anyone. If we tell him to sew our dresses, he would get to know it's us who are saving the world"

"Well, I appreciate that" said Dinah.

"Fine, then I will get the materials ready by tomorrow, and then we can work on preparing ourselves" he said.

"That's good" said John.

As decided, the next day, Queen had purchased the required materials and had kept in the drawing room. Individually necessary materials were taken by each of the team to their respective rooms.

Two hours were spent on preparing their suits. The five members, in their costumes, came out and met each other.

Hal Jordan had made up a green shirt, with black pants, and large green socks over it, and had black sleeves with green gloves on it, and wore a green mask covering his eyes, and on his shirt was a white circle, which had the Green Lantern symbol.

Carter Hall had worn a belt-type object on his chest, with four brown straps connected to a red circle placed on the middle of his chest, and black pants, with large golden boots. He wore a brown mask, with a long nose, with the sides extending to his neck, along two golden metallic sleeves on his hands.

John Thompson had prepared a yellow costume, with silver sleeves, and golden boots over his brown pants. He wore a yellow mask covering his eyes, forehead and hair. His shirt had the outline of a lightning, from the left shoulder to the right hip.

Oliver Queen had worn a green full-sleeve shirt with a darker green sleeveless jacket, which had a big hood to cover his face. He wore olive green pants with black boots, and military green gloves. He applied green paint between and beside his eyes.

Dinah Lance had made a black shirt and wore a black cape over it, and black pants, and black boots on them. She wore a huge silver belt around her waist, which protects her from her own sound. She had a black mask around over her eyes.

"Carter, you've nailed it" said Dinah, looking at his costume.

"Well, he actually looks like a forest hawk" said John.

"Fine guys" said Oliver. "Now, we have to build our secret underground base"

"Leave it to me" said Hal.

"Wait, it should not be accessible to all, there must be a secret passageway" Carter said.

"Right, maybe next the bookshelf, we can make a hole to get to the base" said Dinah.

"Fine" said Hal, and he created a green drilling machine, and began drilling at the chosen space. It dug and dug and finally it became a hundred-meters long passageway. Hal created a green lift in which they all stood and manipulated the lift downwards.

Then from the base, he again began drilling, until he established an acre wide room. The others were shocked.

"That is my place," Oliver said, pointing to a corner of the room, "Where I will be making new types of arrows for me, and I will create a quiver there"

"And that corner is for me" chose Carter, "Where I can prepare my weapons and select them at will"

John, Dinah and Hal did not require their own space. They did not have to prepare anything for them. They had inbuilt facilities.

The next day, Hal ordered machines from a gym, and initially with his powers, led them to the underground base. He set up everything, so that everyone could exercise on them. All the five were busy in training that day.

That evening, while John, Dinah, Hal and Carter were watching television, Oliver was busy working downstairs. He was preparing his quiver. He had coated the metal quiver with leather, for comfort. He had divided the quiver into two parts. One was for ordinary arrows, and the other was for special types of arrows, like the poisonous arrow and cold arrow. He even made arrows, by attaching arrow pointers tight to long stiff shafts, and initially his work was done.

Dinah and John had prepared dinner for the day. Roasted chicken, spaghetti, bacon and eggs and vegetable salad were prepared. Everyone gathered at the dining table and everyone had fun talking and chatting over the time.

"Can I ask everyone something?" said John. "What have you told your families about you staying here?"

"Well, my father doesn't like me though. He doesn't care where I go and when I come back home. He is a detective, mainly busy all day" said Dinah.

"I told my mother that I will be staying in California as part of business. She trusts me, though" Oliver said.

"My parents are dead" said Carter and Hal together.

"Mine too" said John.

"We're sorry" said Oliver and Dinah together.

They felt sorry for them and patted them on their shoulders. They encouraged them to come out from those memories and live happily.

The next morning, all five woke up early and drank a cup of coffee to warm themselves up. They sat out in the garden and had their morning walks beautifully with the scent of the jasmines. As they went back into the house, there came a courier to them.

"Guys, there's a courier" said Dinah.

She looked at it and opened it. It was a kind of invitation. She read it aloud.

"'Dear, neighbours, you are welcomed to the fortieth birthday of my dearest wife, Nora Nickel, at The Nickel House, today evening at six p.m. Kindly encourage your participation by giving your presence. Yours, Adam Nickel'" and there was a picture of himself.

"Who's Adam Nickel, anyway?" asked Carter.

"Well, I think some sort of businessman, giving a grand party for his wife" Hal said.

"Guys, we have to go" said Dinah. "Remember what Batman said, understand your surroundings"

Hal, John and Carter were not willing to come, but they had to.

Evening at six p.m., they took a cab to The Nickel House, and attended the party. Oliver took a peg offered by the waiters and was busy on it. In the crowd, Dinah managed to recognise Nickel and gently tapped him on his shoulder.

"Um… excuse me? Mr. Nickel, I'm Dinah Lance, and these are my friends, Oliver, Hal, Carter and John"

"Oh, nice to meet you" he said, shaking hands with each of the persons. "I need to talk to you all"

He took them away from the crowd to a table in his lawn and got them seated.

"So, may I know how's your new house?" asked Nickel.

"Fine. Brilliant" said Dinah.

"Well, what caused you all to move to this place?" he asked.

There was a silence among the group. No one knew what to say. After repeated looks on each other, Hal spoke up.

"We came here to search jobs for ourselves"

"Oh, I see. Which job?" he asked, curiously.

"We didn't decide that yet. Based on our talents, we are hoping to get a job soon" Dinah said.

Nickel went thinking for some time. He did not know what to say.

"Well, Mr. Nickel, why don't we go enjoy the party now?" said Carter, distracting him from the topic. "Probably your wife is looking for you"

"Yeah, sure"

The six of them went and joined the public there. The young heroes found it amazing. Mr. Nickel brought his wife on stage and even danced with her. Their children were cheery and happy. The cake-cutting ceremony gave rise to dinner. Everything went in a chronological order.

It was ten p.m. by the time the folks returned home.

"Well, that was embarrassing" said Hal.

"Guys, we need to tell them that we do some job. We can't just tell them that we are superheroes, you know, saving the world" said Dinah.

"Well, what are we gonna say now?" asked Oliver.

"Well, we have to tell them that we do some sort of job, like, based on our talents. I prefer telling them that I am a circus acrobat" Dinah said.

"I'll tell them that I am scientist" said John.

"I'm a mechanic" said Carter.

"I would prefer being called a chef" said Hal.

"I… umm… well, I'll be a hunter" said Oliver.

"Fine, we must remember our identities" said Dinah. "By the way, I'm feeling sleepy"

Her departure meant sleep for everybody. They went into their respective rooms.


	3. The First Operation

Chapter 3: The First Operation

The next morning, Dinah woke up early in the morning, and made herself a coffee and sat in front of the TV. She opened the news channel and was shocked by seeing the news.

"Guys, you have to see this" she said.

All the four boys came running from their bedrooms and gathered in the drawing room. Dinah pointed towards the television.

The reporter said, "Businessman Adam Nickel arrested for murdering family"

The five of them were shocked to see this. They never knew that a man would murder his wife right after her birthday. They wanted to know the reason for his actions. The police were taking him to custody when a reporter asked,

"Sir, may we know the reason for you murdering your wife?"

Nickel replied, "I don't like my wife" and pushed the office in front of him, addressing him to take him away.

The morning was spent by everyone in the underground base, exercising. They were not willing to talk much, on seeing Nickel's behaviour with the media. At last, when Dinah was tired, she spoke up.

"Guys, how can he _not _like his wife?" I mean he married her and stayed with her for fifteen years, and suddenly how can he murder her?" asked Dinah.

"Man has been depreciating his love over time" said John.

Well, is there anything that we, meaning the superheroes, can do?" asked Dinah.

"Dinah, he's in prison. The police will take care of him for the rest of his life. We don't have to do anything" John said.

"Fine" she replied. "Let's have breakfast"

Even lunch was so quick. Time passed so quickly that they didn't realise it. Even the evening supper, which consisted of tomato soup and vegetable salad, passed quickly.

After supper, Carter switched the TV on, and saw the live news. He saw Adam Nickel hurting people, throwing cars, damaging buildings, and acting like crazy. He called his mates to see what was going on, and they were too amazed.

"It's time to become superheroes" Hal said.

Soon after five minutes, they were dressed in their respective suits. Hal in his green costume, Dinah in her black suit, Carter with his belt, John with his yellow suit and Oliver in his hood. Oliver carried a quiver with him, Carter carried a mace, and Dinah carried a white acrobat stick. They went to the terrace of the rooftops of their neighbouring building and moved together.

Hal, John and Carter could fly. Oliver had to shoot arrows and attach himself to their extension and glide through it. Dinah did the same. Soon, they all were at the chaos point.

They found that Nickel was even hurting the officers, and SWATs present there. Hal went to talk with Nickel.

"Mr. Nickel, what's wrong with you?" he asked.

"I am an evil guy!" he said, with an evil laugh.

"You were fine yesterday, what happened to you now?" he asked.

"This is the real me!" he said, and kicked Hal on his stomach, who fell back. He went forward to punch Nickel, but somehow, he divided himself. Hal was shocked to see this. Nickel in turn punched Hal back, who fell back. Carter and John lifted him up.

"What's wrong?"

"He seems to have the capability of shape-shifting" said Hal. "We must fight him with brains"

Carter and Oliver went forward. Carter seemed to attack him with his mace, but he dodged it, by shape-shifting himself. Carter attempted three more times, but Nickel punched him back. He caught him by his belt and threw him to a distance. Oliver took one of his poisonous arrows and shot it at Nickel. But he made a hole in himself, through which the arrow passed by. He came running and punched Oliver, by confusing him, and kicked him to a distance.

Dinah was next. She stood in front of Nickel, and emitted sonic screams from her mouth, and rings of echoes were emerging, increasing on the release of a new one. Nickel changed himself into a big circle and allowed the echoes to pass. He returned back into his normal state.

John managed to touch Nickel's shoulders, but before he could give him a shock, he shifted himself and got out of there, and punched John on his chin.

Hal had returned. He manipulated a green spear and threw it on Nickel, who just in time, changed himself into liquid, and the spear passed through him, barely hurting him.

John understood his powers. He whistled, which was a signal for all of them to gather. They gathered behind a dumpyard.

"I can't touch him, he's just moving himself away" said Carter.

"Guys, I understood him. He is in a state between solids and liquids. If we adjust the temperature to very cold, he'll become a completely solid state and we can attack him" John explained.

"Well, how can we do it?" asked Oliver.

"I have a plan" he said, looking behind at the rampaging Nickel. "Oliver and I will get two refrigerators and decrease their temperature, and we'll set them beside him. Hal, you'll try to trap him through your manipulation. Dinah and Carter will eventually destroy him"

"Agreed" said the four.

Oliver and John went to bring two refrigerators. They travelled to The Nickel House, and, started searching for a refrigerator. On searching the kitchen, they found two working refrigerators, and the were attempting to carry them, but they were faced by security. The security began shooting bullets at them, and Oliver and John had to dodge them.

Meanwhile, Carter could not see the damage that Nickel was causing. He went forward, and hit the ground with his mace, and the ground began to crack, and created holes in the crust, and inside of it fell Nickel. Carter went to see Nickel's presence inside, but Nickel emerged from behind him (as he had travelled through the cracks in his liquid form) and punched Carter.

Dinah came and began screaming at Nickel, but he changed himself into liquid, so it did not have an effect on him. Hal came and created a bottle to collect him, and succeeded, but he changed back into his solid form, causing the bottle to break.

On the other hand, Oliver and John did not know what to do. Then, John took one of Oliver's arrows and electrocuted it. He told Oliver to shoot it. Though Oliver received a little shock, he shot it one of the guards. It was successful. He was left for dead. The same they did with the other guard. Soon, they carried the refrigerators to the chaos point.

After a five-minute-travel, they found Nickel fighting Carter, Dinah and Hal.

"There they are" said Hal, showing Carter and Dinah the arrival of John and Oliver.

"Come fast" said Dinah.

Oliver and John quickly placed the refrigerators beside Nickel, and Nickel, by experiencing the cold weather, thought to escape. But, Hal created a stone through his legs and he was trapped in it. He tried to break the refrigerators, but he couldn't. He also tried to get out of the stone, by breaking the stone and jumping out, but it didn't work out.

"Fast, now!" said John.

Dinah began screaming from Nickel's back and he was distracted and couldn't stop himself from covering his ears. Carter took his mace and punched him hard on his stomach. He felt pain. Again, he smashed it on his head. Blood started leaking through his mouth.

"Fast!" John cried.

Dinah began screaming louder, and slowly the temperature of the refrigerators were decreased, and with the increasing noise, cracks began to appear on Nickel's body. Carter hardly pressed his mace into Nickel's stomach and then he was burst into pieces.

Adam Nickel's body was divided into a thousand parts. Each part lay in a different direction. The Junior League had made its first success. They all felt happy and cheered for themselves. Immediately, everyone left the place.

The next morning, they gathered in the drawing room and watched the news. It showed the press meet of Commissioner James Brown, who was taking the credit for himself.

"Sir, how did you kill him?" asked one of the reporters.

"Actually, he was a monster. Since I was an expert in Paleontology, I knew how to control him, and I killed him to ensure that he doesn't hurt anyone else again"

Dinah switched the TV off.

"Well, that was a bit selfish of him" said John.

"None of the media could capture our images?" said Carter.

"That's right, but –"

Just then, John's phone rang. It was Batman.

"Congrats, mate, The Junior League has completed its first operation" he said.

"How did you know it was us who had done it?"

"I'm Batman"


End file.
